Megadoomer
"Megadoomer" is the 1st segment in the 17th episode of the first season of Invader Zim. It first premiered on April 26, 2002, on Nickelodeon. Plot Summary The Almighty Tallest are on a storage planet so they can examine and decide which valuable equipment to send to the Invaders to assist them conquer their assigned planets. They send a Megadoomer X-3 Combat Stealth Mech to Invader Tenn to assist her conquest of the planet Meekrob. Purple says he "doesn't like" the robot, to which Red responds "We didn't build it so you could like it". They then find a compartment filled with dangerous Malfunctioning SIR Units. Purple describes how dangerous and prone to disaster they are, then decides upon sending them to Zim. Red jokingly worries about Zim getting mauled by the murderous contraptions, which leads to both rulers laughing raucously. On the Conveyor Belt Planet, a Screwhead examines the slavery his species is forced to perform courtesy of the invasion of their planet. The Screwhead, Smikka Smikka Smoodoo, is upset by how the slave drivers are treating his species and wants to do something about it. However, he only gets as far as swapping over Zim and Tenn's packages before being electrically shocked by an Irken slave driver. Meanwhile, on Earth, Zim is talking angrily to a human boy, Spuddy, about what Dib did to him in class, which made Ms. Bitters accuse him of something. Spuddy, frightened, escapes to his house, as he doesn't know who Zim is or what he's talking about. Once Zim arrives at his base, the enormous box containing the Megadoomer falls from the sky and lands in the front yard. Pleased with his 'gift', he speedily and excitedly thanks the Tallest. However, they receive another transmission, this time from Tenn, whose base is being destroyed by the maniacal robots. Back at the base, the Megadoomer is opened and the floor is completely flooded with packing peanuts. Zim explains the mech’s cloaking properties to GIR. GIR, of course, is not listening, as he is distracted by the Megadoomer's “chicken legs”. Zim attempts to switch the machine on, but realizes that there are no batteries, so he must plug the Megadoomer into a wall outlet to get it to work. This time, the Megadoomer turns invisible, but both the cord and pilot are still visible. GIR immediately tries to tell Zim that he can still see him, but Zim, completely oblivious and not listening, simply ignores him, tells him to be quiet, and pilots the robot towards Dib's house. The journey begins, and the Megadoomer is causing some destruction by leaving massive footprints in the streets. Zim, thinking he is invisible, laughs deviously at how the humans are fleeing, afraid and confused. Meanwhile, all of the humans can see him clearly piloting the invisible mech. While stomping, the Megadoomer loses power. GIR tells Zim that "the plug thing isn't plugged" and is asked by him to go find an outlet. GIR plugs it in to another cord, and the Megadoomer is invisible again. Sometime later, Zim is halted by a car that is waiting in front of a stoplight. Zim, however, doesn't know this and yells at the car to move. The stoplight turns green, and Zim thinks it was him that made the car move. The Megadoomer again loses power and requires a new outlet. GIR plugs the Megadoomer into the Old Folks' Home, which the elders do not acknowledge. Meanwhile, human children Chuck and Buck are playing in a sandbox with their toy robots. The Megadoomer loses power in front of them, and GIR randomly runs by and eats their toys, laughing insanely. At Dib's House, Dib is brushing his teeth, when he hears the sound of the Megadoomer's stomping. He runs outside with his camera to find Zim floating above him. Zim yells "fight an enemy you cannot see!" However, Dib says that he can see him. Zim denies this, and tells him to behold the Doom Cannon. Dib says that he can't because the cannon is invisible. witnesses Zim's arrival.]] Zim then realises that he can be seen and says that it is stupid. Dib agrees with this point, which Zim is upset by and decides to use all of the Megadoomer's weapons to destroy Dib. This draws the power from the city, which makes the machine power down, deactivating the cloaking device. Dib is amazed by the Megadoomer and makes GIR take pictures of him in front of it, in the hopes that he will be on the cover of Crop Circles Magazine. Zim panics about his cover being blown, and makes the machine self destruct. He snatches Dib's camera away and proclaims his victory. Dib calls this into question, since the Megadoomer exploded and he wasn't destroyed. Zim, protecting his ego, says his real plan was to steal the camera from him. After Zim and Dib fight over it, Dib reclaims the camera and announces his victory. Zim says he left the lens cap on, and a bird snatches the camera away. Zim proclaims victory, but is then crushed by a falling remnant of the Megadoomer. Disappointed, but still rather pleased that Zim was not victorious, Dib goes back to bed. Meanwhile back in the Massive, the Tallest receive a signal from the Megadoomer, one of the Comms Officers tells them that it self-destructed. Purple hopefully asks if it blew up with Zim in it, which Red replied, with much disappointment, that it probably did not. In the end, they get a final transmission from Tenn, with her screaming hysterically, proclaiming that they're all doomed as the insane SIR Units continue to wreak havoc on what remained of her base. The Tallest respond with hardly a care, as they do nothing but eat snacks while Tenn screams in agony. Facts of Doom Cultural References *The Megadoomer is a reference to the 1990s anime Evangelion, according to the director's commentary. *The two children playing in the sandbox in this episode were named Chuck and Buck. This is a reference to Miguel Arteta's independent film Chuck & Buck. *One of the people shown during Zim's rampage through town is a woman with purple hair and a nose ring. She highly resembles Devi D. from Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, one of Vasquez's earlier works. She can also be seen with the other teenage girls inside a car in "Attack of the Saucer Morons". **When the Devi D. look-alike peeks out the window, the number "911" is on one of her books. This could be a reference to the 911 emergency number. *There is once scene where Dib is in the bathroom and can see the water ripple due to Zim's stomping in the distance. This is a reference to the iconic 1990s Steven Spielberg movie Jurassic Park. Trivia *GIR seems to be able to carry the plug for the Megadoomer, even though it appears large and heavy, implying that GIR has immense strength despite his small size. *This episode is the only one where Tenn has a role before Invader Zim was cancelled. *The Massive passed by the Spotted Planet, which Invader Stink was assigned to conquer. *Zim said that the Megadoomer was engineered by "conquered Vort scientists", implying that Invader Larb completed his mission. *The Irken Comms Officer with ruby eyes that appeared in this episode would later make a cameo appearance in "Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars". *A teenage girl in the car at the stoplight who Zim impatiently waits for to move is one of the teenage girls from "Attack of the Saucer Morons". *In the scene with the old folks home, originally the old people were going to be knitting and doing typical old people things, Nickelodeon gave the crew a note saying "Don't make the old people too old" so Jhonen Vasquez's solution was to add in a few things like young people clothing as well as adding random objects like a skateboard, surf board and a picture of them skydiving to name a few. *When GIR eats Chuck and Buck's robot action figures, the screen mysteriously shakes, hinting at this was an instance of breaking the fourth wall. *This is the first appearance of the planet Meekrob. The inhabitants would later appear in "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom" as part of Zim's Virtual Reality chamber. Inconsistencies and Animation Errors *When GIR says "I had no idea", a line separates his head and body. This means that only GIR's head moved when he said the line. *When Smikka Smikka Smoodoo is looking at the two packages with his back to the camera, he appears to have a jacket which disappears in the next scene. *When GIR goes into a retirement home, unplugs the television set from the outlet, and plugs in the Megadoomer, the receptacle has two outlets which changes to one outlet in the next scene. *Zim's ensemble and eyes are bright red in one of the episode's scenes and changes back to normal the next scene. *Zim's PAK turns pink and gray when he pulls his antennae. *Tenn pauses for three seconds before she talks to the Almighty Tallest again. *When Dib takes away the camera from GIR when the Megadoomer is about to explode, GIR's nose on his dog disguise doesn't have its black outlining. See also *Megadoomer Screenshots *Megadoomer (Transcript) es:El Mega-Arruinador Category:Season 1 Category:Episodes Category:Screenshots